REU  Site:  Field  Research  on  Bahamian  Lakes—Exploring  Records  of  Anthropogenic  and  Climate  Change  

Bottom Row 1: Adam Rigge, Emily Frank, Keri Agriesti, Jacob Spry, Evan Playle Row 2: Chris Ruhs, Julie Galloway, Emily Woodward, Joshua O’Brien, Kathleen Poth Row 3: James Sutter, Katherine Aaron, Andrew Michelson, Jeanine Ash, Karen McNeal, David Craven Row 4: Perry Gnivecki, Mary Jane Berman, Tina Niemi, Lisa Park Top

Examples of data from student projects

Project Summary

The goal of this Bahamian Lakes REU site was and is to provide the opportunity for an interdisciplinary and international group of students and faculty to work together on the common research objective—deciphering the past environment from lake deposit records—from a sedimentary, geochemical, biological and archaeological point of view (using methods such as grain size, LOI, XRF, ICP-MS, faunal and floral diversity analyses, FAME, and PCR). To do this, we assembled an interdisciplinary team of faculty with expertise from a wide spectrum of disciplines including geology, geochemistry, biology, biogeochemistry, and archaeology in an integrative approach to answering questions on how the climate has changed, how humans have modified the landscape, and how landscape changes may have triggered other physical changes that are recorded in the lacustrine environment.

With this Bahamian Lakes REU, we collected multi-proxy data from the modern subtropical lake systems and past records of environmental change from sedimentary cores recovered from lakes on the island of San Salvador. The stratigraphic, biological, and chemical records derived from archaeological excavations have provided us with an unprecedented opportunity to decipher the footprint of human occupation and how it may have impacted the physical and biological environments. All of these data will be and have been used to build a deeper understanding of the history and nature of climatic and anthropogenic environmental change through time.

The outcomes of this Bahamian Lakes REU for the undergraduate student participant included the following—

1) The student participant completes the REU with an increased understanding of Earth as an interconnected system; that lake systems change through time based on the balance of atmospheric inputs, biologic activity, sediment flux, and human activities.

2) The student participant perceives the process of conducting scientific research as a dynamic process. That inquiry is often open-ended without right and wrong answers.

3) The student participant gains an appreciation for conducting research in a foreign country and has learned valuable cultural lessons about Bahamian society while living on San Salvador.

4) The student participant values his/her contribution as original and new data, and thus worthy of publication.

5) The REU positively influenced the student to complete (or in some cases, pursue) his/her baccalaureate degree in a geoscience field.

6) The student participant decides to pursue a STEM graduate program.

Basic REU Structure

Students were divided into 4 research teams and assigned a primary mentor. Each team was centered around a theme of paleobiology, sedimentology, microbiology or archaeology. The field collection of data was then carried out primarily within the team context, but there were many opportunities for students to participate in helping to collect data that was not part of their overall team's focus. Each student was responsible for collecting his/her own data and for completing all of the laboratory and analytical work associated with it. He/she also was responsible for archiving the data, once their analysis was completed.

Training and Development Recruitment Efforts

1.Mechanisms for recruiting students Because we had a rather short timeline (2 months) from knowing about our award to our project start date, we targeted schools within the Mid-West, by sending emails to colleagues and department heads, as well as doing more global posting of the REU program on listservers like Paleonet and sending out a blast email to the 200+ schools that regularly use the Gerace Research Centre on San Salvador for either courses or research. We particularly inquired to our colleagues about any minority or underrepresented students who might be eligible and interested in participating. Unfortunately, at that late date (March-April) many of the students were already committed to summer programs.

2.Applications Our application process consisted of an application form, transcripts, a completed course summary form, a personal statement and two letters of reference from a faculty member (see below). We modeled this after several other REU programs across disciplines.

3.Selection criteria Our selection criteria, as described in our proposal, involved selecting students from the mid-continent, and from urban universities, who might not otherwise be able to experience the tropics or the ocean environment. We also looked at GPA, letters of recommendation, and personal experiences and motivations for participating in the program. We paid particular care and attention to try to select a diverse group of students and to make sure that underrepresented groups were specifically identified.

4.Selection of students We received 28 applications from 11 states, representing 15 different schools—13 of these schools were state institutions and 2 were private, liberal arts colleges. The applicants were equally divided between genders 14 female and 14 male and most were geology majors, although some were environmental science, interdisciplinary studies, marine chemistry, civil engineering, marine ecology and physics. We chose 12 students from 9 different schools from 8 states: Ohio, Missouri, Minnesota, Alabama, Florida, Arizona, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. There were 7 female students and 5 male students, ranging in age from 20 to 27 years old. They included one Hispanic student, one Iraq war veteran and two non-traditional students. Seven students were junior level, two were sophomores and one was a freshman. In all cases, we tried to get a diversity of backgrounds and while students did not have to be geology majors to be selected, they needed to express interest in geology or earth or environmental science as a possible career or field of study. Only one student was selected who did not participate because he had a NASA fellowship that he chose instead.

Structure of Project

Major activities of the project for 2009 are summarized below-

Introduction to Field Methods—students were instructed on notebook keeping, content knowledge building via lectures from mentors as well as guest lectures from other researchers on the island; field instrumentation hands-on demonstrations and data-gathering using meters and other sampling techniques, including coring, sediment and water sampling. Discussion of Guns, Germs, and Steel (Jared Diamond)—students participated in weekly discussions of Diamond’s book as it related to First Contact and San Salvador Island and the arrival of Christopher Columbus and the effect on the Lucayan culture. Defining a Project, making presentation—students were individually mentored in developing their project which included defining a research question/hypothesis, methodology and analytical approach. Students were then instructed and mentored in creating a presentation and writing a short proposal that described their research agenda. They also had to give an in-field presentation to the entire group after their field work was completed. Collection of Field Data—students were divided into 4 research teams and assigned a primary mentor. Each team was centered around a theme of paleobiology, sedimentology, microbiology or archaeology. The field collection of data was then carried out primarily within the team context, but there were additional opportunities for students to participate in helping to collect data that was not part of their overall team’s focus. Each student was responsible for collecting his/her own data and for completing all of the laboratory and analytical work associated with it. He/she also was responsible for archiving the data, once their analysis was completed. Attending the talks and field trips at The 14th Natural History Conference—while on the island, the students participated in the 14th Natural History Conference, where they attended talks and field trips. They were required to attend at least 2 of the meeting sessions and two field trips. The students enjoyed this and felt that they understood the presentations and could better understand how field science translates into presented research. Collection of Laboratory data—students participated in numerous laboratory data collecting activities that included loss on ignition (LOI) analysis (5 students), grain size analysis using a Malvern mastersizer (3 students), X-ray diffraction (XRD) (3 students), environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) (7 students), atomic absorption (AA) (2 students), mass chromatograph (2 students), inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) (3 students), Polymerse Chain Reaction (PCR) (3 students), Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME) (2 students) and BioLog (3 students). Other, more simple data collection was done using hand-held digital calipers (2 students) and a stereo dissecting microscope (2 students). Data Synthesis and Analyses—students were required to synthesize and analyze their data using standard statistical techniques such as analysis of variance (ANOVA), principle component analysis (PCA), detrended correspondence analysis (DCA), t-tests, rarefaction, analysis of similarity (ANOSIM), correspondence analysis (CCA) as well as Spearman-rank correlation. The students were given lectures in statistics as well as access to MatLab and Paleontological Data Analysis (PAST). Mentors helped them choose the appropriate statistical tests for their data and double-checked their analyses. Writing a report, abstract, submitting online, poster presentation—guidance and individual mentoring was given to each student in developing their research proposal, which was due in the third week of the program and then in their oral presentation to the rest of the REU group. Each student was given a template for the Powerpoint presentation and given individual feedback from their mentor and research team pre- and post-presentation. Once their lab work was completed and analyses finished, every student wrote a report of their work and this was submitted the last day of the program. Individuals (6) who wanted to continue their research beyond the 8 week term of the program were allowed to do so under the guidance of a faculty member at their home institution. These students were primarily using their projects as Senior projects or Honors theses. Data and analyses from this additional effort will be incorporated into their final reports, due at the meeting of the North-Central and South Central Sections of the Geological Society of America in Branson, Missouri (April 11-13, 2010). Progress reports all followed the same format of the Symposium on the Geology of the Bahamas and Other Carbonate Regions. Some students will be presenting their research at the 15th Symposium, which will be held on San Salvador Island June 19-21. All students submitted abstracts to the North-Central/South-Central Geological Society of America meeting and will give poster presentations in Branson at this meeting. They have been given a poster template and assistance from their team mentor on this presentation. This will be the second professional meeting that the students will have attended in conjunction with their REU experience. The first one being the 13th Symposium on the Natural History of the Bahamas, which was held on San Salvador during the REU program. By seeing a professional meeting and then participating in one themselves, we hope that the students can scaffold their knowledge of how science is done and communicated.

Abstracts were submitted for the North-Central/South-Central Geological Society of America to be held in Branson, Missouri, April 11-13, 2010

Aaron, K.R., Niemi, T.M. and Murowchick, J., 2010. Possible evidence of anthropogenic land degradation from analysis of sediment cores from Triangle Pond, San Salvador, Bahamas. North Central-South Central Geological Society of America Meeting Abstracts with Programs, v. 42 (2), p. 59.

Agriesti, K.N., Berman, M.J., Gnivecki, P.L., Niemi, T.M., Park, L.E., 2010. Anthropogenic and climatic weathering of a Loyalist plantation structure: Fortune Hill Manor House, San Salvador Island, Bahamas. North Central-South Central Geological Society of America Meeting Abstracts with Programs, v. 42 (2), p. 60.

Ash, J., Park, L.E., and Michelson, A., 2010. Variability in ostracode geochemistry: a calibration study. North Central-South Central Geological Society of America Meeting Abstracts with Programs, v. 42 (2), p. 60.

Craven, D.G., Park, L.E., Michelson, A.V., 2010. A comparison of modern sedimentology for several hypersaline lakes of San Salvador Island, Bahamas: French Pond, Triangle Pond, No Name Pond, and Storr's Lake. North Central-South Central Geological Society of America Meeting Abstracts with Programs, v. 42 (2), p. 59.

Frank, E.A., McNeal, K.S., Donaldson, J.R., Park, L.E., 2010. The analysis of a microbial mat profile using three community composition methods: polymerase chain reaction, community level substrate utilization, and fatty acid methyl ester. North Central-South Central Geological Society of America Meeting Abstracts with Programs, v. 42 (2), p. 61.

Galloway, J.L., Niemi, T.M., and Murowchick, J., 2010. Paleoenvironment and anthropogenic reconstruction of North Storr's Lake, San Salvador, The Bahamas. North Central-South Central Geological Society of America Meeting Abstracts with Programs, v. 42 (2), p. 60.

O'Brien, J.J., Niemi, T.M., Murowchick, J., Berman, M.J., Gnivecki, P.L., 2010. A sediment analysis of the Three Dog Site (SS21), San Salvador Island, Commonwealth of the Bahamas. North Central-South Central Geological Society of America Meeting Abstracts with Programs, v. 42 (2), p. 61.

Playle, E., McNeal., K.S., Donaldson, J.R., and Lawrence, A., 2010. The effects of bioturbation and disruption on the reconstruction and reconstitution of the photosynthetic cyanobacterial layer of algal mat communities. North Central-South Central Geological Society of America Meeting Abstracts with Programs, v. 42 (2), p. 61.

Poth, K.A., Gnivecki, P.L., Berman, M.J., Michelson, A.V., 2010. Morphometric comparison of prehistoric and modern Cerion at Pigeon Creek Site, San Salvador, Bahamas. North Central-South Central Geological Society of America Meeting Abstracts with Programs, v. 42 (2), p. 60.

Rigge, A., Park, L.E., Michelson, A.V., Leonard, K.W., 2010. Mollusk distribution within the saline lakes on San Salvador Island Bahamas—Establishing a baseline for determining biological response to climate and anthropogenic change. North Central-South Central Geological Society of America Meeting Abstracts with Programs, v. 42 (2), p. 59.

Spry, J.M., McNeal, K.S., Donaldson, J.R., and Lawrence, A., 2010. Redox dynamics and community composition of hypersaline lake microbial mat communities, San Salvador Island. North Central-South Central Geological Society of America Meeting Abstracts with Programs, v. 42 (2), p. 61.

Woodward, E.E., Park, L.E., and Michelson, A.V., 2010. Taxonomic classification and ecological distribution of Ostracoda in lakes on San Salvador Island, Bahamas—An assessment of proxy indicators for climatic reconstruction. North Central-South Central Geological Society of America Meeting Abstracts with Programs, v. 42 (2), p. 59.

PROJECT WILL RUN AGAIN IN 2012